Act I: Mercurian Underground

[Ebiris]

"Children..." Rowan sighs, holding the datapad against her chest for a moment as she considers what kind of experience it will be for Juliana to wake up in this day and age... if she's still alive.

At least she has better odds than the others... nothing at all alive in those other tanks... she thinks a bit sadly.

Exiting the office, dismisses Golem. "Your service to me is finished. I release you." Dealing with this situation will keep them occupied well after Golem would have vanished anyway, so she can just summon another one when a door has to be opened the hard way.

Walking back along the corridor, she heads downstairs to rejoin Arkian and relay what she's learned.

[Halbarad]

"Goodbye," Golem says, vanishing in much the same way it appears.

The way down is the same as ever, but as you pass the fourth floor landing...

*BOOM*

A dull rumble comes up through your feet, causing you to stumble for a moment. A bit of dust showers down from above, then stops.

OOC: Rat, you felt this as well.

[Ebiris]

"What the-" Rowan yelps, grabbing onto the railing and generating her dimensional warp field by instinct - not that she expects it to be of too much protection if several million tons of rock falls on her...

I'm pretty certain we went over the fact that Mercury has no tectonic activity...

Staying perfectly still for a minute, she awaits any aftershocks that may come...

[Carthrat]

Arkian grips his staff tightly, glancing around the room- and tries to discern a focal point of the tremor, if he can.

[Halbarad]

Rowan: There are no further tremors after a couple of minutes of waiting; the stairwell remains quiet.

Arkian: It takes a moment to get a feel for the rock around you, but once you do, the source of the vibration is easily located - far above your head, most likely on the planet's surface.

[Carthrat]

Arkian produces.. a commlink!

"Rowan! I'm heading for the surface. You probably should too; if the structure becomes unstable, we may be in trouble.

Anyway, I have a suspicion something else is up there. Arkian out."

[Ebiris]

"What about Juliana - the person in the tube!" Rowan replies quickly, already heading down the stairs at a fast pace. "We have to get her out as well. I've got the release procedure here!"

Besides, we're underground even on the colony streets. At least the buildings are probably reinforced... I hope...

[Carthrat]

Arkian nods. "Ok. I'll wait, but hurry; *something* has happened, and I want to find out what."

[Ebiris]

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" Rowan affirms, rushing off the stairs and bounding over the many wires littering the room - low gravity helps, at least until she impacts into the wall next to the door...

Still, that doesn't deter her for very long at all, as she breathlessly enters the room, already keying the datapad to Release Procedures.

[Halbarad]

The file consists of a long list of computer commands to be entered into the console, given in sections. After each section of commands, the tank will prepare to move through part of the release cycle - there are three sections in all, each consisting of about ten lines of code. You don't really understand the code, but it's easy enough to read, at least.

[Ebiris]

With the pad displaying the pertinent details, Rowan sets it on the console so Arkian can see it and do what needs to be done. Stepping back out of the way, and keeping an eye on the tube, Rowan radios the Silver Star. "Silver Star, this is Rowan, do you read?"

[Halbarad]

Chris replies back. "Hey - you guys okay? There was some sort of earthquake or something just a minute ago."

[Carthrat]

Arkian has a look at the code, and, not being a computer wizard of any description, scratches his head!

"I guess I just type it in," he mumbles to himself, doing just that.

[Ebiris]

"We felt it here," Rowan replies. "Staying underground is probably a bad idea, even though I'm pretty sure Mercury isn't supposed to ever have quakes... Anyway, we've actually found what looks to be a survivor, kept in stasis all this time - we're about to try and awaken her, then we're coming back to the ship."

[Halbarad]

"Whoa... for real?" Chris sends back, sounding rather amazed. "That's cool - I'll call Michael and get the ship warmed up then. You guys need anything from me?"

Arkian: The first section goes without too much trouble, although it's rather slow - you have to be careful not to make a mistake, since you can't see what you're typing. As the last line of the first section is entered, one of the backlit buttons on the console lights up - you can see now that it's labeled "Autonomic Restore".